FLG 01, on 02 May 2019 - 02:52 PM, said:
There are two ugly truths in MWO: 1) some Mechs just are not good enough to be fun unless quirked massively, and 2) there is undeniable empirical evidence to suggest PGI rarely applies such massive quirks, even if they are needed.
As far as predictions go, they can be fairly accurate. Especially the trias of geometry, hardpoints and engine cap has proven to be a reliable indicator of potential performance, and notable deviations from that indication caused by PGI's execution are too infrequent to summarily discard sober analyses. Doesn't mean they are always right, of course.
I think a lot of it is highly exaggerated and self-fulfilling prophecy. Good players say a mech is bad -> good players do not play a mech leaving only the bad players playing it -> everyone sees bad players playing the mech badly -> then everyone goes: 'See, we told you it was worthless!' Then reverse that for the mechs people say are good.
Another thing that sometimes happens is that people try too hard to fit a square peg into a round hole. They're used to playing mechs a certain way and when it doesn't do that as well, it's pronounced DoA. However it may do something else quite well. For example a lot of the build recommendations I read for the Firestarter are just copy/pasted Wolfhound builds. While you can do fine with those builds, of course it's going to seem underwhelming compared to the Wolfhound. You're not taking advantage of what the Firestarter does better.